Search

Introduction: This article explores the wellbeing benefits of musical engagement for men in the third age. Older men face specific health challenges such as loneliness, isolation and a heightened risk for suicide, tied to gendered norms around emotional control, and a reluctance to seek professional help. There is substantial evidence of the positive health and wellbeing outcomes from older people’s engagement in music, but no studies on older men, music and wellbeing. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 Swedish men aged 66–76, with different demographic backgrounds and engagement with music. Interviews were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. Results: Analysis resulted in four themes: “emotions and embodiment”, “adjusting to growing older”, “developing and maintaining friendships” and “maintaining contact as a caregiver”. Regardless of musical genre or whether singing, playing, dancing or listening to music, the men used music to come into contact with their bodies and emotions, as well as improving relationships and social contacts. In particular, men as caregivers to sick partners benefited from sharing music with their partner, thus improving the quality of the relationship. Discussion: This study shows that engagement with music fills deep psychological and social/emotional needs for the participants, in both “being” with the music and “doing” musical activities, where also talking about music is highlighted as an important part of the musical engagement. The results have implications for the field of music therapy, in that it foregrounds music therapists’ potentially important role in developing opportunities for older men to engage with music., Äldre män, musik och hälsa

Reflective practice is seen as a method for professional growth and lasting learning outcomes, but what this means in the context of Higher Music Education (HME) has not received sufficient attention. This paper explores how reflection is ontologised and justified as part of performing musicians' education. The data utilised derive from a comprehensive project investigating how processes of academisation affect HME across Europe. Findings from the Swedish sub-study, comprised of fourteen leaders and teachers at four academies of music, demonstrate how reflection is discursively constructed; as based on language and cognition; as embodied, and as 'purely' musical. These ideas concerning the qualities and characteristics of reflection interact and provide basis for three forms of justification: reflection for artistic knowledge development; reflection for individual success in the profession; and reflection over the role of musicianship in relation to society.

To sing is to communicate. The soothing, comforting and emotional regulating properties of a lullaby are well-known cross-culturally and historically. This doctoral thesis addresses neonatal pain management from a novel and groundbreaking perspective, studying the efficacy of live music therapy on infants’ pain responses during venepuncture. New research is needed to advance the non-pharmacological interventions in neonatal pain care, and neonatal music therapy (NICU MT) offers active methods to involve the parents in pain management. The doctoral thesis includes two empirical and two theoretical articles. In paper I, preterm and term infants (n=38) were subjected to venepuncture with and without live lullaby singing, in a randomised order with a crossover design. Parent-preferred lullabies were performed live by a music therapy student and standard care was provided for all infants. The results did not show any significant pain-alleviating effects, however, the live singing was not stressful for the infants. In paper II, the microanalysis disclosed that live lullaby singing is a communicative reciprocal intervention that also applies to premature infants during painful procedures. Live lullaby singing is a tool suitable as a means to optimise the homeostatic mechanisms. The results from the theoretical papers III and IV are further developed and synthesised in the thesis into a theoretical strategy; The Nordic NICU MT pain management strategy, featuring the parents and their singing voices as mediators for pain relief. The role of the music therapist in neonatal pain management is as a facilitator and an educator for the parents. Coaching parents to better meet their infant’s attachment needs during a painful procedure may lead to more efficacious interventions. The biopsychosocial parental infant-directed singing is presumably an applicable parent-driven non-pharmacological intervention, which promotes pain relief and attachment formation during painful procedures. Neonatal music therapy is still in its infancy in the Nordic countries, but the societal and healthcare contexts afford important prerequisites to further develop NICU MT as a truly family-centred approach. This doctoral thesis will hopefully contribute to the important interdisciplinary endeavour worldwide of involving and integrating parents in neonatal pain management.

Background: Anecdote suggests that listening to music can help to distract from worries about ongoing life problems. Purpose: In this study we examine the phenomenon and ask, to what extent does music listening alleviate worry, and under what circumstances? Our focus was on the immediate temporary effects. Methodology: We performed four pilot experiments with audiences comprised of different ages and backgrounds of musical experience. As part of these experiments, we constructed a visual analogue scale (VAS) to assess “daily worry” together with the three other dimensions of tiredness-arousal, sadness-happy and anxiety-calmness. Participants were asked to listen to live classical music and to fill out the VAS before and after assessments. The experiments enabled us to examine the similarities and differences among audiences of different ages and music experience with regard to the capacity for music to distract them from their worries, what we term ‘worry distraction’. Findings: In the different listening situations, the self-rating of daily worries decreases after listening to live, high-quality professional performances of classical music. In our experiments, previous experience of classical music does not have a significant effect on decreased worry while listening. University level education in general, however, is associated with an increased effect. This prompts a discussion regarding the role education plays as a determinant for health – including the relationship between experiences of music in relation to health. Originality: It is striking that live classical music could affect daily worries of people across different age groups evaluated with our simple and easily distributed Visual Analogue Scale. This could therefore be recommended for evaluations in other contexts.

The article highlights the interrelation of the notions of piracy, musical work and genius composer. It is shown how the metaphor of the pirate requires a treasured object to steal. This object is the immaterial musical work, composed by a musical genius. Although this genius is a myth of romanticism, it is also shown how it is founded on an ancient notion of “monosexuality.” This notion, it is argued, has negative consequences for composers, musicians and listeners alike. Together, the metaphors of the pirate, the genius and the work constitute a figure of thought that at the beginning of the 21st century fulfills a legitimizing function for a malfunctioning copyright. It is therefore suggested that the pirate metaphor be jettisoned along with that of the romantic genius and the immaterial musical work. In its stead the mothership connection may be a more constructive metaphor.

On April 6th 1974, Blue Swede’s cover version of ”Hooked on a Feeling” occupied the number one spot on the Billboard chart. This was an extraordinary achievement, especially considering it was the first time a Swedish rock act topped this American list. On the very same day ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest at the Dome in Brighton, England. After that, Swedish popular music would never be quite the same. Blue Swede didn’t manage to sustain their international success, but ABBA, of course, went on to become the perhaps most prosperous band of the 70’s. Needless to say, those crucial events had profound consequences for the Swedish music scene. One was that Sweden as the winning nation was expected to host the next Eurovision Song Contest, which took place at the Älvsjö Fair in Stockholm in 1975.

Objective: During the most vulnerable period in a child’s life, preterm and sick newborns are exposed to a high number of painful procedures, sometimes without the comfort and affection of their parents. Since repeated pain and frequent use of opioids can have consequences for the neurological and behaviour-oriented development of the infant, it is vital to identify effective non-pharmacological interventions with regard to procedural pain. Methods: Preterm and ill term neonates (n=38) were subjected to venepuncture with and without live infant-directed lullaby singing, in a randomised order with a cross over design. Physiological data were collected and the procedures were videotaped. Parents (n=11) and staff (n=11) were interviewed about live singing as affective support. From this larger study two premature infants were selected for a case study. Their behavioural and physiological responses as well as the liveperformed lullaby, were analysed in-depth with microanalysis. Results: Transcriptions of the lullaby-performances identified signs of “amodal perception” and “time in movement” by which the infants transposed the vocalization of the live-singing into their behaviour synchronizing in dance-like body gestures with the variations in intensity, shape and temporal structures of the vocal performance. Live singing with premature infants is a social communicative interaction which may optimize homeostasis during painful procedures if the lullaby singing is predictable and regular from start. Conclusion: Since emotional regulation is a central feature of music therapy this case study brings important clinical implications for how the affective interaction between the music therapist or the parent and the infant should be composed during painful procedures. Pain involves the interaction of biopsychosocial and situational factors, therefore more research is needed to explore the potential benefits of music therapy including the role of the parents.

The author suggests that music harbours a special capacity for its listeners to sympathetically relate to foreign sets of values. Music has the ability to function as a limit-transgressing and unifying link at both a collective and individual level. That music is particularly suited for this has to do with the emotional power of music, the affective impact by which music in its very specific way becomes a felt experience in time. On the one hand listeners may be affectively addressed by (in principle) any music, irrespectively of cultural difference. But above all, music – one’s «own» music – has the possibility to become a confirming self-object, enhancing a self-confidence that enables critical assimilation, rather than authoritarian dismissal. This may thereby facilitate and enable constructive and enriching encounters with others. Listening to and learning about the aesthetic values that define different cultures, styles and genres of music – but also others’ individual preferences and aesthetic appraisals – may thus function as cultivation of social competence in an aesthetic context. However for this sympathetic function of music to come off certain requirements must be met., Journal title in english: Nordic Journal of Cultural Policy

This dissertation, titled Interactive Music Composition, is a practice based Ph.D. thesis in the field of Musicology. The purpose is to explore if and how one can compose computer based interactive music, that is musically satisfying for an interacting audience, consisting of both laymen and skilled musicians. The text describes the design and reflection in two interactive music installations: Do-Be-DJ, open-air installation in a public park, and, Mufi, with modular and moveable interface. Based on methods and per­spectives in Musicology and Interaction Design, a composition model for interactive music is developed. The model investigates the experience di­mensions listen, explore, compose and collaborate. It also investigates the design dimensions of interaction, narrative structure, composition rule and sound node. The conceptual approach is to apply improvisation and composition methods from jazz, pop and groove based music on interactive music. It also uses the concepts of openess in musical structures and interpretation, musical mediation of actions and meaning and everyday use of music, when composing interactive music. The dissertation contributes to an understanding of how to create composition techniques for interactive music, such as: Direct, varied and shifting response. It reflects on the change in meaning of the musicological terms composition, improvisation, musical work, listener, musician and audience. And on the interaction design terms interaction, gameplay, system and user. The term co-creator is used to describe an actively, interacting and collaborating person, to complement traditional terms like audience, performer and user. Ljudfiler till avhandlingens bilaga 1, http://musicalfieldsforever.com/dobedj_more.html; Videodokumentation av Do-Be-DJ, Interaktiv installation, http://musicalfieldsforever.com/dobedj_more.html; Videodokumentation av Mufi I och II, Interaktiv installation, http://musicalfieldsforever.com/mufi_more.html; Doktorandtjänsten finansierades av Interactive Institute; Musikinspelning finansierades av Framtidens Kultur genom Skiften på Malmö högskola Interaktiv musikkomposition Interactive Music Composition Interaktiv ljuddesign Interactive Sound Design Musik och Hälsa Music and Health

This dissertation, titled Interactive Music Composition, is a practice based Ph.D. thesis in the field of Musicology. The purpose is to explore if and how one can compose computer based interactive music, that is musically satisfying for an interacting audience, consisting of both laymen and skilled musicians. The text describes the design and reflection in two interactive music installations: Do-Be-DJ, open-air installation in a public park, and, Mufi, with modular and moveable interface. Based on methods and per­spectives in Musicology and Interaction Design, a composition model for interactive music is developed. The model investigates the experience di­mensions listen, explore, compose and collaborate. It also investigates the design dimensions of interaction, narrative structure, composition rule and sound node. The conceptual approach is to apply improvisation and composition methods from jazz, pop and groove based music on interactive music. It also uses the concepts of openess in musical structures and interpretation, musical mediation of actions and meaning and everyday use of music, when composing interactive music. The dissertation contributes to an understanding of how to create composition techniques for interactive music, such as: Direct, varied and shifting response. It reflects on the change in meaning of the musicological terms composition, improvisation, musical work, listener, musician and audience. And on the interaction design terms interaction, gameplay, system and user. The term co-creator is used to describe an actively, interacting and collaborating person, to complement traditional terms like audience, performer and user., Ljudfiler till avhandlingens bilaga 1, http://musicalfieldsforever.com/dobedj_more.html; Videodokumentation av Do-Be-DJ, Interaktiv installation, http://musicalfieldsforever.com/dobedj_more.html; Videodokumentation av Mufi I och II, Interaktiv installation, http://musicalfieldsforever.com/mufi_more.html; Doktorandtjänsten finansierades av Interactive Institute; Musikinspelning finansierades av Framtidens Kultur genom Skiften på Malmö högskola, Interaktiv musikkomposition, Interactive Music Composition, Interaktiv ljuddesign, Interactive Sound Design, Musik och Hälsa, Music and Health

This essay investigates interpretations of evil as expressed in contemporary music, focusing mainly on lyrics in contemporary popular music. The purpose is to analyze whether there is acertain aesthetic embracing of risk and innovation on display when discussing such subject matters, and to relate such aesthetic connotations to cultural and religious aspects. Lyrical interpretations of evil in a musical context appear to be existent in different forms andare in various ways attempts to integrate the existence of evil acts, as leading to suffering and pain, by incorporating such themes into lyrical material. There appears to be a possible aesthetic embraced when artists are advocating evil acts, however, not totally separable from the aesthetics of the extreme metal scene. Such forms of creative practice appear as reliant on the dialectic between historical perceptions of morality,modern society as globalized, segmented and restructured and the reoccurrence of religion in a secularized perspective. Themes regarding evil appear in this form of aesthetic in different ways to traditional discourse; making use of historical and contemporary images of evil and portraying them as desirable in various ways. In some instances such creative release is also linked to religious belief and practise, making the artistic performance equivalent of a transcendental event.

Staging is the creative act of showing something to an audience.When staging, the artist choose and create the context, situationand structure of the presented object, play or installation. The chosen context and situation provide background for the audience interpretations. Meaning is co-created between the artist and audience, based on the cultural and individual understanding of the context and situation. The term installation is open, ambiguous and undefined. One does not completely know what to expect and where to find an installation. It is open towards many interpretations. In this paper we present how we worked with staging of two interactive installations in different exhibition situations, to provoke and motivate different interpretations, expectations and interactions. We argue for staging as a communicative strategy to attract and motivate diverse audiences and user groups to collaborate and co-create through interpretation and interaction. Further we argue that installations have to be open to many possible structures, interpretations, interaction forms and roles the user can take, and shift betweendynamically. When the user dynamically restructure, shift rolesand thereby re-situate the installation, the user is a co-creator in the staging act. We call this dynamic staging., Interactive music composition, Interactive Sound Design

This study is an attempt to investigate religious perceptions and its development, function and connection to religious practise within the Swedish extreme metal scene. This is performed mainly by a qualitative method of investigation, studying lyrical content published on a number of extreme metal albums, thereafter relating the lyrical progression to the progession of the scene as a whole and also to the development of individual religious belief and practise. The lyrically expressed manifestations of religiosity within the extreme metal scene prove to be related to religious practise in some cases, most visibly in the Christian parts of the scene.The study also indicates that development of religious expression often is evident regardless of religious preference. This development also regularly relates to an increase in musical evolution and prowess often achieved with increased age and maturity. Musically and lyrically, the extreme metal scene displays transgressive attributes which assist both individual and group in the process of creating identity, meaning and individuality.Experiencing extreme metal, in concert or in the privacy of one´s own home, can be one way of perceiving spirituality in this modern age.

Even as a series of concepts of knowledge – knowledge production, knowledge as a commodity, useful knowledge, and knowledge economy – have been taken up by the political discourse, knowledge has come to be regarded a commodity, a product which can be tested and measured, and used as a means to enhance a nation’s competitiveness. This view of knowledge continues to exert an increasing influence on higher education, higher music education, and the education of music teachers around the globe. Despite this marketisation of higher education, the fact that academics have raised their voices against it, and the knowledge that people acquire via or in music being regarded as insignificant in terms of the national economy, the philosophy of knowledge has attracted only little attention within the philosophy of music education. This is particularly true of the question of what should be regarded as the central forms of knowledge in music teacher education. Among the themes in need of closer discussion are the relationship between knowledge priorities within music education and concepts of information and knowledge; the Aristotelian concepts of episteme, techne, and phronesis; and tacit knowledge. In turn, these knowledge forms and their role in music teacher education need to be considered relative to the knowledge values of a test and measurability based knowledge regime. What kind of framework for the knowledge priorities of music teacher education is entailed by such a regime?, Professional Knowledge in Music Teacher Education

Con el fin de reflexionar sobre la formación del profesorado en educación musical y apoyar a los proyectos formativos de carreras superiores este artículo presenta el análisis de datos de planes de estudios de países surameriacanos. Como fuentes de información se utilizaron documentos oficiales proporcionados por las instituciones, los documentos disponibles en las páginas web de varias instituciones de enseñanza superior y organismos de consulta como los Ministerios de Educación y la UNESCO. Los planes de estudios son descritos y analizados según sus características generales y sus contenidos formativos. Los modelos de formación encontrados fueron clasificados em tres áreas: música, pedagogía y artes. De ese modo se concluye que los modelos de formación docente presuponen formar músicos con especialidad en educación musical, formar pedagogos con especialidad en educación musical y formar arte-educadores con especialidad en educación musical.

Ansatsen på denna uppsats är att undersöka om de går att identifiera arketyper enligt de förutsättningar Carl Gustav Jung anger i musik och vilka krav som ställs för att arketyperna ska framträda. Författarens ambition är också att se om de presenterade resultaten kan användas som förklaringsmodell till de fenomen som bland annat uppträder i musikterapisituationer. En betydelsefull utgångspunkt för arbetet är att undersöka om vaggvisan kan betraktas som en symbol i jungiansk mening och därigenom fungera som en länk till det kollektiva omedvetna. För att vaggvisan ska få sin numinösa laddning krävs emellertid att tre krav är uppfyllda: Först och främst krävs att utövaren (föräldern) är helt och hållet närvarande i situationen. Den musik som produceras måste innehålla arketypiska element. Mottagaren måste känna sig utvald. Utifrån det material som presenteras kan vaggvisan accepteras som en symbol i jungiansk mening, vilket också banar väg för att lansera en arketyp som författaren kallar: ”Dansknytningens arketyp”. Utgångspunkten för denna arketyp är att betrakta musiken som tonsatt rörelse och att vaggvisan i sin djupaste mening har en starkt anknytande funktion. Fenomenet uppstår sannolikt också i andra musiksammanhang och genom att närmare se på vad i musiken som appellerar till det arketypiska blir det möjligt att finna flera argument för att acceptera musiken som bärare av arketypiska budskap. Musiken besitter ett antal lekande funktioner och läkande egenskaper som inte tillmäts något större värde av det rationella samhället. Med en större förståelse för hur det kollektiva omedvetna påverkar oss människor och vilken betydelse musiken skulle kunna ha i sammanhanget öppnas kanske vägar för ett samhälle i bättre balans mellan det verbala och existentiella. Avsikten med denna uppsats är kanske pretentiös men genom att belysa denna problematik och tydliggöra att människan och musiken är en odelbar helhet går det kanske att ta ett steg i den riktning jag önskar.

The aim of this essay is to study and show the contents of the music repertoire that is used in live action role plays in Sweden and study how this repertoire is spread between participants in the culture of live action role playing. Four informants have been chosen and interviewed, three men and one woman of different ages from different places in Sweden. They have all been practicing live action role playing for some years. Some of the conclusions that can be drawn from this study is that the participants of this hobby culture value music that feels old and contribute to the illusion of another world and time. The music repertoire of the live action role playing culture is filled with this music that gives the participants associations in line with the illusion. That is more important than the real age of the music. Another interesting conclusion is that the participants learn and spread the melodies verbally to each other and only the texts spread on the internet.

Would it be able to think of education on the music teacher course with speciality in for example rock, Brazilian music, Latin American music orwestern classical music? This paper is a study of the instrumental education exemplified by the classes of Prática de Conjunto (Ensemble Playing) at the Music Teaching Course at the State University of Santa Catarina. It presents data concerning the musical preferences of the music teacher students and underlines their expectations in relation to the course. The research was carried out over one year in the form of interviews, observations and questionnaires. The conclusion confirms the importance of instrumental and vocal practice of the students, suggesting that more musical instruments and genres should be accessible on the Music Licentiate Program. It is a study that aims to contribute to the debate about the education of music teachers and, in consequence, support the reforms of Music Licentiate Programs.

This work, Lullabies in the Beginning of Life for Children and their Families in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, has been supported by Stockholm Coun-try Council’s Research Programme “Arts in Hospital and Care as Culture”. The symbiotic relationship that is between the mother and her newborn child will easily be disturbed when the baby has to be treated in a respirator, incu-bator or if the child has malformations which make it more difficult for the parents to bond with their baby. From experience, music, and especially the human voice beside scent is a strong potential for recognition and sense of security for human beings. By giving parents support to establish a good relationship, the purpose is to encourage parents to sing for their newborn children. The overall aim with the project is to find a model to support par-ents to sing for their children which can be summarised in a comprehensible leaflet, a leaflet that can be distributed when the families arrive at the ward. This has been implemented together with the staff in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Karolinska University Hospital. The staffs have been given questionnaires about their attitudes and knowledge about parental singing. There have also been two meetings to-gether with the project leader during the winter and spring 2006. The model for supporting parents to sing to their babies (“parental singing”) is based on research in the fields of musicology, music therapy, medical science and psychology, but also on the results from the questionnaires and from the thoughts and attitudes that have been discovered during the meetings. The leaflet, “parental singing”, and the staffs model to encourage “parental singing” are a part of this result. Rapporten ingår också i "Rapport från kultur i vården och vården som kultur" 2007:1, ISSN 1402-2427.

This article presents data concerning the profile of the students of the Music Education Program at UDESC, their prior musical knowledge, their choice of education, their labor activities during the university years, their expectations, their university entrance exam and so forth. The research was carried out over one year in the form of questionnaires, focus interviews and written documents. The investigation was theoretically and methodologically based on the work of seven research groups (ALFA-EVEDMUS). Similar studies carried out in Brazil were considered as well. The results show that more than half of the students are boys, they are more than twenty years old and have parallel professional activities; a majority chose the Music Education Program as second option with the objective to develop their music knowledge and mainly to study a music instrument; others did not express interest to work in public schools but as private instrument teachers. It is a study that aims to contribute to the debate about the education of music teachers and, as consequence, support the reforms of Music Education Programs

This article describes and analyzes factors that motivate and influence young people studying music and choosing music teaching as a career. The research utilizes data gathered from a case study that was carried out during a period of two years at the State University of Santa Catarina. The results show that a personal attraction of an individual to music plays a more important role on that choice than external factors such as family, friends, school or religion. The will to learn music and to learn how to play music instruments is the strongest motivational factor on pursuing a music teaching education program. Knowing what music students think and how they make their choices is an important factor to be considered in the ongoing reform of Brazilian music education curricula. The paper concludes with some examples on topics for further research on music teaching education.

ENGLISH SUMMARY Title: The ambiguous score Presenting romantic piano pieces from simplified scores In this essay, I have investigated if different types of simplified scores – scores whose musical structure are clearer compared to the original – can stimulate a more artistic interpretation as well as a more linear understanding of the piece. My analysis also investigates what kind of impact these kinds of scores have on memorization. The music is derived from the romantic piano repertoire and the subjects are six university-level music students. Half of them were placed in a reference group, and only received the original scores, while the others also received the altered versions. I used both reduced scores where notes were removed in order to emphasize the linear structure and scores where the pitch notation was the same as in the original , but the notes were grouped differently. The result indicates that those having access to multiple versions had a positive impact on the musical interpretation. They also gained a more comprehensive understanding of the overall form.